FORMER world champions Kiko Martinez and Isaac Dogboe both turned down the chance to face him so Michael Conlan will lock horns again with Vladimir Nikitin at Madison Square Garden, New York on December 14.

WEEKS out from the 2012 London Olympics, an 11-year-old Kane Tucker and younger brother Jake stood awestruck in Banbridge leisure centre as they posed for pictures with light-heavyweight sensation Julio Cesar la Cruz.

CARL Frampton returned to training yesterday and expects to be punching with his left hand again in three and-a-half weeks with a view to returning to action (but not in New York on December 14) before the end of the year.